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Labor, gender and, class have each been identified as important reconstructive forces of the American constitutional order, but rarely has a single organization provided an opportunity to directly study the interrelationship of all these forces during a critical period of constitutional change. This article examines one such organization during the years leading up to the New Deal: The Women's Trade Union League. The WTUL, which uniquely mixed middle-class and working-class membership, was founded in 1903 to facilitate trade union organizing by women. Its labor approach, however, would ultimately fail, pushing the league to more fully embrace its connections to the middle-class leadership of the women's movement, thereby transforming its strategic approach and constitutional outlook away from the anti-statist voluntarism of the labor movement to the pragmatic and statist maternalism of the women's movement. The WTUL would subsequently become an important contributor to the legislative program of progressive reformers flourishing during this period under the gendered exception to free contract liberty won inMuller v. Oregonin 1908. This strategic organizational transformation would create tensions within the league and between the league and women workers, as well as invite constitutional consequences for women workers that would resonate for years, long past the constitutional revolution of 1937 and the apparent constitutional reintegration of male and female labor. This case study, therefore, provides a unique lens through which to view not only the constitutional tradeoffs of the adoption of the gendered Constitution as an alternative to the labor Constitution, but also the impact of the resource-conscious decision making of social-movement actors that is often overlooked by constitutional scholars preoccupied with judicial decision making.

In recent years, political scientists have found that civic education improves the democratic capacity of students, yet little research has been done to date on how and why civic education works when it does. In this study, we go inside the classroom to explore how teachers teach civics to find out what works best at preparing young people for responsible, democratic citizenship. Using a survey of American students, principals, and teachers, we examine the varied instructional methods being employed by social studies teachers in ninth-grade classrooms across the country to determine which methods and which combinations of methods do the best job of enhancing students' democratic capacity defined as their political knowledge, political efficacy, and intent to vote. Our results suggest that there are four broad teaching approaches employed by social studies teachers: traditional teaching, active learning, video teaching, and maintenance of an open classroom climate. Teachers may employ some combination of these approaches. The analysis indicates that approaches that foster an open classroom climate (encouraging student input) in combination with the others tend to be the most fruitful across the board. While any combination including an open classroom climate maximizes benefit, traditional teaching (i.e., use of methods including textbook reading, worksheets, memorization, and so forth) combined with an open classroom climate seems to do the best. Also, the results suggest that the combinations that work best for stimulating internal efficacy vary greatly from those stimulating the other citizenship outcomes. Taken together, our results suggest that fostering an open classroom climate when teaching civics is the surest way to improve the democratic capacity of America's youth. Further, teachers should be attentive to the instructional tradeoffs necessary to creating student capacities for both active and informed citizenship. Adapted from the source document.

ObjectivesIn recent years, political scientists have found that civic education improves the democratic capacity of students, yet little research has been done to date on how and why civic education works when it does. In this study, we go inside the classroom to explore how teachers teach civics to find out what works best at preparing young people for responsible, democratic citizenship.MethodsUsing a survey of American students, principals, and teachers, we examine the varied instructional methods being employed by social studies teachers in ninth‐grade classrooms across the country to determine which methods and which combinations of methods do the best job of enhancing students' democratic capacity defined as their political knowledge, political efficacy, and intent to vote.ResultsOur results suggest that there are four broad teaching approaches employed by social studies teachers: traditional teaching, active learning, video teaching, and maintenance of an open classroom climate. Teachers may employ some combination of these approaches. The analysis indicates that approaches that foster an open classroom climate (encouraging student input) in combination with the others tend to be the most fruitful across the board. While any combination including an open classroom climate maximizes benefit, traditional teaching (i.e., use of methods including textbook reading, worksheets, memorization, and so forth) combined with an open classroom climate seems to do the best. Also, the results suggest that the combinations that work best for stimulating internal efficacy vary greatly from those stimulating the other citizenship outcomes.ConclusionsTaken together, our results suggest that fostering an open classroom climate when teaching civics is the surest way to improve the democratic capacity of America's youth. Further, teachers should be attentive to the instructional tradeoffs necessary to creating student capacities for both active and informed citizenship.

Past research has explored the effectiveness of civic education in America's classrooms. We build on these efforts using a survey of American students to test whether civics instruction enhances students' political knowledge, political efficacy, and their voting intent. We refer to these outcomes, collectively, as democratic capacity. Recognizing that not all classroom experiences are created equal, we break new ground by exploring the degree to which the effectiveness of civic education is conditioned on variation in instructional methods employed by teachers. We also examine how variation in students' home environment affects the effectiveness of civic education. The results suggest that civic education seems to influence democratic capacity only for those students who come from less privileged backgrounds and that teachers who use a wider range of instructional methods appear to deter the stimulation of knowledge for these students while simultaneously boosting their efficacy. We discuss the implications of these findings. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]

Past research has explored the effectiveness of civic education in America's classrooms. We build on these efforts using a survey of American students to test whether civics instruction enhances students' political knowledge, political efficacy, and their voting intent. We refer to these outcomes, collectively, as democratic capacity. Recognizing that not all classroom experiences are created equal, we break new ground by exploring the degree to which the effectiveness of civic education is conditioned on variation in instructional methods employed by teachers. We also examine how variation in students' home environment affects the effectiveness of civic education. The results suggest that civic education seems to influence democratic capacity only for those students who come from less privileged backgrounds and that teachers who use a wider range of instructional methods appear to deter the stimulation of knowledge for these students while simultaneously boosting their efficacy. We discuss the implications of these findings.